12 21
by Glaceo
Summary: A year after the massacre in the woods, the surviving teens leave to celebrate a friend's twentieth birthday. But the killer isn't done with them just as yet. Sequel to 'Hide & Seek'. Summary included. Reviews contain spoilers.
1. Summary for Hide & Seek

**Hey everyone. Well, I finally decided to write a sequel. I had a lot of fun writing _Hide & Seek_, so hopefully the sequel will be fun to write aswell. For those of you that would like to read the whole story for the beginning, feel free to click on my profile and read. But for those who are either busy or don't want to bother with the first story, here's a brief summary of each chapter to help you catch up. Sorry for any grammatical errors, I'll be sure to correct them soon.**

**Summary for Hide & Seek:**

**Chapter 1… Rescue Me**

All the guys and girls – Brooke, Chase, Bevin, Skills, Mouth, Rachel, Lucas, Peyton, Nathan and Haley – leave Tree Hill for a short trip to an old house in the middle of the woods. It seems like the perfect getaway… until they reach. The house looks antique, but they make do. Everyone gets a room, except Rachel and Mouth, who have to sleep on the couch and floor. Seeing as things aren't going as she'd planned, Rachel storms out the house into the woods for a walk. Time passes, but she doesn't return. So the remaining teens set out into the darkness to look for her in four groups – Lucas/Peyton, Nathan/Haley, Brooke/Chase, and Mouth/Skills/Bevin.

**Chapter 2… Spirit In The Night**

The four groups look around in different parts of the forest for Rachel. While Bevin feels defeated since she is the only one yelling to find Rachel (while Mouth and Skills laze around), Brooke tries to get Chase to sort out their differences. Lucas and Peyton stumble across a clearing to a lake, where they see a few old boats, piled half high with knives and old scissors, some covered in rust. Haley suggests the possibility that Rachel could've actually found her way back to the house, and wouldn't have a way in, since everyone is out looking for her. Nathan agrees that they should go back. Meanwhile, Chase and Brooke come across a patch of open land where they see an abandoned carnival in the distance. The whole time, ironically, Rachel has in fact been waiting impatiently outside the house, hoping someone comes to let her back in.

**Chapter 3… Crimson**

Nathan and Haley are the first to arrive back home, and find Rachel. They all go inside, and Haley does her best to get back at Rachel for her forever-snide comments. She then goes for a shower (on the first floor), but soon hears two knocks on the bathroom door. She thinks it's Nathan and asks him to come in. A figure does walk inside, but she can't tell who it is, so she pushes the shower curtain away and finds that whoever it was, is now gone. She wraps the towel around herself and goes outside, calling Nathan, who she finds has been downstairs all along. He comes up and consoles her, saying she must be imagining things. While he's up, Bevin, Mouth, Skills, Chase and Brooke all come back. Chase explains his excitement at the abandoned carnival, but Brooke doesn't seem all that enthusiastic. Lucas and Peyton too arrive, after an hour, not explaining their disappearance. Later that night, Haley wakes up after a nightmare. She goes down for a glass of cold milk, but after closing the refrigerator door, finds Rachel's still body covered in blood on the couch.

**Chapter 4… Every Night Is Another Story**

Haley screams out, waking everybody up, only to discover Rachel isn't actually dead and is playing a prank on her. Haley calls Rachel a bitch and storms away, and everyone, somewhat miffed, goes back to sleep. The next morning, Peyton asks Lucas why they didn't tell anybody about the boats, and Lucas explains that it would just freak everybody out. Peyton nods, but doesn't agree with him. Chase and Brooke argue about the carnival – Chase thinks its interesting, while Brooke thinks that if it's so far away, nobody would want them to find it. Not listening to her, he leaves. When he doesn't return at nighttime, Brooke tells everyone she knows where he is and goes to find him. Rachel predicts another wild goose chase, like last night. Peyton too mentions how sitting around is making her sluggish and decides to go for a walk. Lucas asks to come with her, but she tells him to stay. Bevin, on the other hand, decides to tag along, always excited. Peyton, just as they leave, asks her, "Bevin, do you like boats…?"

**Chapter 5… Tragedy Strikes In Threes **

Brooke reaches the carnival, to find no Chase. She yells out for him as she passes the old and dusty stalls, and then walks toward a white and red striped tent. Meanwhile, Peyton and Bevin reach the boats, but Peyton finds that they're somehow different. Then she notices – the knives and scissors have all disappeared. She then asks Bevin if she'd like to go for a boat ride. At the house, Rachel sits on the couch and boringly flips through channels. She looks back through the window, and yells out, backing away towards the kitchen table. Mouth, Nathan and Haley come running down and ask her what's wrong. She tells them she saw someone watching her through the window. Haley refuses to believe her after the stunt she pulled earlier, but Mouth convinces Nathan to go outside and look. At the carnival, Brooke enters the tent, only to find Chase lying on a table, bloody. He has gashes all over his face, and three paintbrushes jabbed into his body. To Brooke's surprise and relief, he's still alive. He can't speak much though, and after Brooke removes the three paintbrushes from his body, he pleads her to 'run'. Just then, Brooke looks back to see the back of someone. She drops the paintbrushes and runs for dear life. Bevin asks Peyton if she knows where they are going. Peyton says yes, she does, and remember the island she'd seen the last time she'd come there, the one she hadn't told Lucas about.

**Chapter 6… This Time We All Breakdown**

Brooke runs across the carnival, and stops in front of the House Of Mirrors. She wishes she was back in Tree Hill, when suddenly a man's hand covers her mouth. He tells her not to scream – he hates it when they scream. She knows she has to get away to tell the others. So she steps on his foot as hard as she can and bites his hand, the blood coming into her mouth. His hold loosens and she runs, not looking back. Meanwhile, Bevin and Peyton reach the island, lit by only one dim lamp. Peyton starts to question herself, and how she may be bringing their lives in danger, but due to Bevin's enthusiasm, she agrees to look around. They enter a cabin, which is surprisingly well kept, where Peyton finds a loaf of bread. She wonder how it is that the bread is still fresh, when Bevin finds a diary – belonging to a man named Ian Banks. Outside the house, Mouth and Nathan have found nothing. They decide to go in, when Nathan suddenly questions Mouth's feelings about Rachel. But before he can answer, they hear a bloodcurdling scream from inside the house, and rush inside.

**Chapter 7… Knock Knock, Are You Alone?**

An hour ago, Lucas had been wondering where Peyton was, and hoping that she was okay. Skills had knocked on his door and told him he was going for a shower, if anyone asked. Lucas didn't know when, but he fell asleep soon after. An hour later, he was awaken by a scream, and ran out to the hall, to find Mouth and Nathan running up. He asked them what was wrong, but it was Haley who stepped out of the bathroom, telling them Skills was dead. They all walked inside, to find him sitting on the floor, a knife holding his neck erect against the wall. Meanwhile, Brooke was running through the forest, trying to escape whoever was after her. Amidst her haphazard thoughts, she wondered if she was a coward for leaving Chase at the carnival. Peyton realized that they needed to get out of the house… soon. If they didn't, Psycho Derek would get to them. She convinced Bevin to leave, and left the cabin. She'd walked a fair distance, when she noticed Bevin was still inside the cabin. She was annoyed at first, but then saw Psycho Derek in the distance, walking to the cabin. She hid quickly behind a tree and some bushes. She needed to save Bevin – but the question was, how? Brooke was two hundred steps away from the house when she collapsed out of fatigue, her leg bleeding, her cheeks wet with tears.

**Chapter 8…** **And At Night His Face Lit Up A Tinted Blue**

Peyton bend down and picked up a sharp rock, throwing it towards Ian's direction with as much force as she could. She could now only hope it had been an ample distraction. Bevin had heard the sound, and was about to leave the cabin, when the corner of her eye caught Ian's body, and she wondered if there really was a killer. If there was, Peyton was trying to save her. The distraction did work, as Ian walked towards the trees now, slowly, knowing how it couldn't be Peyton - she wasn't brave enough. But meanwhile, Bevin ran out the house into another patch of trees. Lucky for them, Ian was heading to the wrong side of trees, and Bevin and Peyton found each other and ran for the boats. They thanked each other for being there, and rowed, only to hear Ian laughing from the shore of the island. At the house, Lucas got angry at Nathan for not wanting to find Skills' killer. But Nathan argued that they needed to get out. Rachel asked them about the four friends outside the house. Nathan in a moment of desperation took out a gun from a locked up drawer and gave it to Haley, asking her to stay with Rachel incase anyone came back. Lucas left to find Peyton and Bevin, while Nathan and Mouth found Brooke. They made sure she was okay, but needed her to find Chase. They weren't going to leave without him – dead or alive.

**Chapter 9… Twinkling Lights Of A Different Kind**

Brooke, Nathan and Mouth somehow reach the carnival. Brooke feels helpless that she can't remember which exact tent it was she found Chase in. But they soon find that he isn't in one of the tents, his body hanging limp in front of the giant wheel. Peyton and Bevin make it back to the island, Peyton worried – knowing Ian is out there. Bevin takes her hand and they leave the boats. Haley and Rachel are left alone in the house, when suddenly, repetitive thuds start coming from the top. Rachel argues that they should stay down, so as to not be surprised, but Haley wants to make sure that it isn't a person by going upstairs. They both head up, Rachel making jokes now and then, and search all the rooms. They find no one, and Haley looks up to see a thread hanging in the ceiling, leading to the attic. She remembers how no one ventured to look in there, and pulls the cord down, and Rachel is shocked to see two eyes staring at her through the now open attic.

**Chapter 10… Through A Glass, Darkly**

Rachel pointed the gun and shot at the man. She missed, and the recoil made her back up a few steps. Haley was paralyzed with fear as the man, tall, pale, with black wavy hair rushed past her towards Rachel. Instinctively, Rachel threw the gun down the stairway, and used the distraction to hit the man. Haley ran past Rachel and down the stairs, just as Rachel tried to escape, but he attacked them both in time, knocking both of them out. Lucas reached the boats, only to see one of them coming closer to where he was. Thinking it was Peyton, he yelled out a couple of times. But there was no response, and then suddenly, he was attacked from behind. Brooke, Mouth and Nathan retrieved Chase's body and decided to leave the carnival, just as Lucas's body was being dragged through another path to it. At the house, the man had tied up Rachel and Haley back-to-back, under a white cloth. He had left then to meet up with Ian, taking the gun along. Rachel gained consciousness, but needed to get free of the ropes. Ian arrived, amused at the thought that all of the teens were here.

**Chapter 11… No**

Peyton and Bevin meanwhile reached the house, and hid behind bushes. Peyton noticed something was up, since all the lights in the house were off. But Bevin impatiently ran over to the side of the house, and Peyton followed, afraid of being left alone. Felipe, the man who had killed Chase, was now dragging Lucas through the forest to the carnival. Unaware that anyone was close, he was grumbling and grunting. He tripped over a vine and cursed, dropping Lucas, who shuffled slightly. Brooke heard this, not being more than 20 feet away, and so did Mouth. After a slight argument with Nathan, they decided to find out where the noise was coming from – for it could be one of their friends after all. Ian met up with the man and asked him if he'd seen Peyton or Lucas. The man said no, to which Ian felt infuriated. They headed to the house. Rachel and Haley had realized they were alone, since Rachel had made a few sounds and no one had responded. But then, they heard a window shatter somewhere, followed by some quick steps. Hoping it wasn't the killer, they were relieved to find it was Bevin and Peyton. They told each other of their experiences, realizing there was more than one killer. They scurried to find any weapons to defend themselves. But before Rachel could break the news of Skills to Bevin, Ian reached the house, and yelled from outside for them to come out and play.

**Chapter 12… The Hero Dies In This One**

Felipe keeps Lucas in a shaft, his own personal torture room. Lucas provokes Felipe a number of times, and Felipe blames teens for never learning. He then takes his own customized pliers and proceeds to rip of each of Lucas's fingernails, one by one. At the house, Rachel breaks the news of Skills to Bevin, who doesn't break down, but tells the other that Skills wouldn't have wanted them to give up without a fight. She's feels sad though – she never got to tell him she loved him. They push up sofas against the doors and cover the windows, except the broken one on the first floor, which they need to guard. Bevin takes out a baseball bat she'd brought along, Rachel reminding them that this isn't over as yet. Mouth, Nathan and Brooke eventually trace Felipe's path and find the shaft, deciding to go inside.

**Chapter 13… Let The Reigns Go Loose Now**

Brooke, Mouth and Nathan enter the shaft to witness a bloody scene. Lucas is pinned against a wall, with two paintbrushes lodged in his neck, his chest gashed, and bloody weapons on a tray next to his body. Nathan and Mouth rush to let him loose, Brooke wondering if he too is dead now, gone into oblivion. She can't help but cry, and falls forward. All of them are near him, when out of the blue, Felipe returns to the shaft, smiling at the sight. He reaches his wall of weapons to attack them, when Brooke stands up, picks up a sickle from the tray and proclaims – 'it's our turn'. At the house, Bevin goes up to their room to find the bat. It's kept under the bed, and when she reaches to get it and stands up, she finds the man with the dark hair standing at the door. He smiles and she bitterly reminds him he killed her boyfriend. He mentions it as a pity, and then lunges to her. But she swings with her life, attacking him viciously. She gets a few good hits, his jaw, his fingers, etc. Downstairs, Ian taunts Haley before breaking a window and entering, while Rachel distracts him and stabs him in the thigh with a kitchen knife. Haley and Peyton run out through the window, Rachel running up to get Bevin, Ian cackling at how his friend Torrence would have probably killed her by now anyway.

**Chapter 14… Misery Is A Butterfly**

Rachel rushes up the stairs to find Bevin, to see everything silent. She finds Torrence's body, a blood battered mess, and presumes he's dead. She then hears her name being called, and runs to the first floor window, seeing a rope attached to a hook, leading down, where her friends are waiting. She grabs it and starts rappelling down, knowing Ian is just a few feet away, already up the stairs. At the shaft, Felipe asks Brooke to do her worst. She stares at Nathan, and then, throws the sickle into the air towards Felipe. It misses, he laughs, and reaches for a weapon, when Nathan takes the pliers and whacks him on the side of the head. Felipe falls to the floor, and Nathan takes the chance to grab a pickaxe from the wall, and swivels it in the air. He then says, 'you made us' as an explanation for his actions, and brings it down upon Felipe numerous times. He then goes back to the limp bodies of Lucas and Chase, when suddenly; Felipe grabs a small pike from the wall and jams it into Brooke's leg. She yells out in pain, and Nathan runs forward, knees Felipe in the head, removes the pike, and jams it into his head. At the house, Rachel falls to the ground as the rope breaks, and Peyton helps her up. They all run to the woods, just as Ian jumps from the first floor through the window, after them. Rachel hears a whipping noise in the air and turns to see that Haley has been hit by a knife thrown by him, a bright red spot developing in her shirt. She forgets everything, and in rage, takes a knife Bevin has and runs to Ian, stabbing him in the stomach, calling him a motherfucker. But she fails to notice he too has a knife, which he stabs into her stomach aswell. Both of them fall to the forest ground.

**Chapter 15… Halo**

Peyton ran to Haley, while Bevin ran to Rachel. They both reacted differently to the situation, Peyton wondering if Haley would leave Nathan again, just like the last time, while Bevin sobbed wildly. Brooke, Nathan and Mouth arrived at the house to see the carnage. Nathan ran to Haley, and she told him she loved him, and he replied by saying he loved her too. All she could say was 'okay', before the light left her eyes. Peyton walked over to Lucas's still corpse, at first in denial, before breaking down. Nathan called the patrol cars with a functioning cell phone he'd found in Felipe's shaft. Rachel accompanied by Mouth was carried to the hospital for the gashes she'd suffered, leaving Brooke, Nathan, Peyton and Bevin to leave in a patrol car. They knew life would never be the same. All that was left now, was to pick up the pieces.

**Thanks for reading. The first chapter for the sequel is a click away. Hope you like the story. **


	2. From The Woods, Till The Streets

**Hey everyone. So here's the first chapter to the sequel - **_**12/21. **_**Hope you like it.**

**Chapter One... From The Woods, Till The Streets**

Bevin waited anxiously outside Peyton's house, humming along to a mix tape Skills had made for her on her last-to-last birthday. She couldn't help but remember everything, the memories flooded back to her in a single flow, and she inhaled deeply. A tear fell down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away, told herself to calm down, and honked the horn again, hoping Peyton would come out soon.

Peyton was rushing. Rushing to get everything in order, to get all the clothes she needed into the duffel bag she was going to carry, to turn off her laptop, everything. The music was blaring – a relaxant for her, when suddenly, the laptop beeped. In the midst of everything, her head jerked at the sound and she walked closer to the desk, cursing her luck. Bevin was going to kill her for being so late.

But once Peyton's eyes were on the screen, they remain fixated. And with reason.

**STILLWATCHMEWATCHU: **Hello, Peyton.

Peyton couldn't move. This wasn't happening. Not again. It was just a sick joke. A _poor, _sick joke.

**PSawyer89: **Who the hell is this?

**STILLWATCHMWATCHU: **I'm your brother.

**PSawyer89:** No, you're not. My brother is in Iraq. So to repeat my question – Who the hell is this?

**STILLWATCHMEWATCHU:** We're meant to be together.

**PSawyer89:** Fuck off.

She switched off the laptop and put down the monitor, infuriated. _Who would play such a prank?_ Out of nowhere, the sound of a horn blaring outside startled her, and she realized Bevin was waiting outside. She grabbed her bag and walked to the door, glancing once more towards the laptop and her room.

She ran down the stairway, stepped outside, and was surprised by the weather. The skies were a dark grey, and she shivered a little at the cool breeze. It would rain soon. She opened the car's door, and sat inside.

"Let's go," she said simply, and Bevin put up a smile and pushed on the accelerator.

They drove in silence for a while, each of them wondering if they'd ever tell the other about their feelings, about how they weren't okay with everything that had happened, and both came to the silent conclusion that they wouldn't – at least not for a while. They stopped by Karen's Café, and Peyton asked Bevin if she wanted to come inside. Bevin shook her head slightly, and Peyton was too caught up in her own thoughts to question her any further.

Peyton stepped outside the car, and found it was now drizzling. She still ran into Karen's Café though, and the warm air inside soothed her slightly. Karen was bending over the counter, and at the sound of the ring, looked up, and smiled at seeing Peyton.

"Oh Peyton, are you all leaving now?" She asked, politely.

Peyton smiled halfheartedly, no one knew why exactly they were going, none of them was that keen, but Karen had been insistent that they do something.

Looking at Peyton's expression, Karen could sense something wasn't right. "Peyton, I know – I know, this may be hard for you. It's hard for every-everyone, but it's been more than a year, now, dear, and we have to try to move on. I'm not asking you to forget Lucas, believe me, I will… I will never, but life must go on. It's Bevin's twentieth birthday after all, you all deserve a little time off. So just have fun. Please, for my sake."

Peyton at that moment wanted to tell her about the IM. But then she thought twice about it, and decided not to. It would just worry Karen for no reason; it was a silly prank after all. So she just smiled, trying to reassure Karen.

"Where're Mouth and Rachel?"

"They're in the back… playing with Lily. I'll call them out, you all set?"

"Yep, thanks Karen… I mean, for everything."

Karen looked at Peyton for a long second, she probably felt the same way Peyton did – if Lucas was alive, they'd be getting married. Thinking of their own kids. Karen turned around and went to the back, and Peyton stood in the empty café, hearing the almost silent drops of rain outside. She half turned to look at Bevin, who was looking down in her seat, listening to music, Peyton supposed.

She sighed, and then, Rachel and Mouth came out. "Hey," they both said in unison. They both had their bags, and were all set. Mouth hugged Karen and brightly said, "Take care of yourself, we'll be back in two days. Tell Lily we'll miss her!" Karen smiled, and they all stepped out of the café, into the car.

"Should I call Brooke to let her know we're taking off?" Peyton asked the others.

"Yeah, I think so," Rachel replied.

Peyton dialed Brooke's number, the car still in place outside the café. The drizzle had escalated to a light shower, and sounds of thunder indicated worse rainfall in the near future. Brooke picked up after three rings. Peyton put her on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brooke. It's me. We're all leaving now." Peyton could hear raindrops on the other side of the phone. "Are you out somewhere?" She asked, curiously.

But Brooke replied quickly, "No, just sitting on the balcony, watching the sky. Have fun, you guys. Love you all, will miss you loads."

They all said bye to her, and clicked the phone shut. Peyton looked at Bevin and said, "Now we can go."

Brooke clicked the phone shut and put it in her pocket. She knocked on the door - three dull knocks, and Nathan opened, smiling at her.

"What took you so long?" He asked, "You're getting wet. Come inside quick."

"They left," she replied, as if that was her excuse for being late.

"Oh," was all he said.

She looked at him as he closed the door. And then he looked at her for a brief moment, before he took her face in his hands gently and pressed his lips against hers.

**Well, that's all. Thanks for reading. I will explain everything that happened, soon. Please do review. Thanks again!**


	3. Where We Started

**Hey everyone. Thanks a lot for the reviews, they really made my day. Sorry for the insanely long wait though, my summer break is on, and I went on a trip to Bangkok. Then when I came back, I had to get down to SAT studying. So sorry again, I'll try and make sure it doesn't take longer to update the next time.**

**Chapter 2... Where We Started**

"So, how have you been coping?" The lady asked Nathan, pen gripped firmly between her index finger and thumb. He stared outside the window, and suddenly, a million thoughts came back to his mind. It had been a whole year. Each day, another wave of hurt and desperation. He wanted to be with Haley, but he couldn't. He couldn't ever be with her. The feeling made him want to kill himself, maybe then they could be together again. But Haley wouldn't have wanted that for him. She'd have wanted him to be happy, and to live a full, happy life. Even if it meant, living without her.

And then, four months ago, one night at Tric, he'd finally found a solution. A vent, another one who felt this way.

Brooke had been sitting on the other side of the bar, alone, even if surrounded by tens of others. She seemed to stand out even in the loudest crowd, even if she was the quietest of them all. She looked depressed, and was idly twirling the cherries in her apple martini. She then stopped, looked around the bar, and then began playing with her napkin, tearing it to pieces. Nathan had been looking at her for a while now; he'd noticed she'd turned down every guy that'd come upto her.

"No thanks," she'd always said, her raspy voice making it sound like no apology.

She knew what it was like. He could talk to her, he could… be with her. Suddenly, a wave of guilt washed over him. The thought of being with someone other than Haley… it was like cheating. No, he could never do that.

"Nathan?" The lady asked, a look of concern highlighting her features. "You haven't said anything, what are you thinking about?"

Nathan continued to stare outside, and sighed. "How I got where I am."

…

"Where are we going, you guys?" Bevin asked, in a mixed tone of impatience and excitement.

Half way through the journey, Peyton had taken over the wheel, telling Bevin, 'it's gotta be a surprise'. Now it was almost two hours later, and they were within a few miles distance of their destination. Rachel patted Bevin on the back and reassured her, "You'll love it, Bev. We all did, the first time we came here. We have some good memories from her, and some well… saucy ones." She winked at Mouth, and he just laughed nostalgically.

Bevin moaned in impatience again, and then muttered, "The suspense is killing me." A few minutes passed in silence, with Bevin's over-the-top joyousness filling the air of the car. And then, they were finally there.

Peyton smiled as they reached their destination, and exclaimed, "Duh duh duh the dunnnn, welcome, Bevin, to Honeygrove, Texas."

At first, Bevin looked completely psyched. Then, a second later, she looked confused and questioned, "Wait… where?"

Everyone laughed, and then Peyton explained. "We came her last to last year, to rescue Mouth from prison. _After_ he was dumped by Madame Rachel, of course. But our car stopped in the middle, and we had to take Chris's help to get here. It was completely awesome. And now, we're here again to paint the town red!"

Bevin laughed at the bittersweet memories of a time she didn't know, and decided she wouldn't let the past mess up her special weekend. It was time to have some serious fun. They all drove a little into town and parked outside _'Honeygrove Holiday Inn'_, the only decent enough hotel in town. The weather was slightly humid, and a warm loo flew through the air when they stepped outside. Grabbing the luggage, they walked inside the reception, thankfully air-conditioned.

The man at the reception, a 30-something with sharp features welcomed them with his 1000 watt smile.

"Welcome ladies, how can I help you?" He asked, politely.

Mouth coughed, and the man corrected himself quickly.

"And gent," he added, smiling again, nodding to Mouth. His smile was oddly unnerving, Mouth felt.

"We have reservations for two rooms, under Sawyer and Mirskey," Peyton replied. The man checked his small 14-inch computer, while everyone looked around the hotel. Even if it was air conditioned, it looked rather empty. But since so was the town, no one was shocked. There were only two other people in the lobby, an old man and a younger woman, sipping coffee and chatting quietly, sitting on one of the lobby's sofas.

"Ah, here we are." He reached into the back and pulled out two keys. "Miss Sawyer in room 12/23, and Miss Mirskey in room number 12/21." He handed Peyton the keys, and beamed. "Have a pleasant stay."

Just as they were about to leave, Bevin perked up and asked, "Wait, our room's aren't together?" She looked saddened at the prospect. She'd imagined them opening the connecting doors at night and chatting like old times. Like a sleepover in a suite, it'd be perfect.

The man looked apologetic, and replied, "I'm sorry ma'am. There seems to be a reserved room in the middle of 12/21 and 12/23. If you want, I could give you rooms somewhere else, a different floor, perhaps?"

Bevin was about to ask him to do so, when Rachel cut in, "No, no, that's perfectly alright."

"But Rach-" Bevin started, when Rachel cut her off.

She caught Bevin's arm gently and whispered, "Come on, it'll be alright. This dude freaks me out way too much anyway. No one should smile so much. We'll manage." She then turned to face him and said clearly, "No problem. It'll do. Thanks."

The man smiled, _yet again,_ and they all walked towards the elevators.

"You sure you're alright Bevin?" Mouth asked, making sure she was happy. It was her birthday tomorrow after all.

"Yeah, I guess," Bevin said. She then smiled at everyone, not letting a minor setback dampen her spirits.

…

Brooke was sitting alone in the balcony of her house. She watched the sun turn from yellow to orange, the cars below pass each other in a myriad of colour and noise, and sighed. She was about to reach for her phone to call him up, when suddenly, a voice interrupted her action.

"How could you do this to me?!"

Brooke shot up and turned around. But to face no one. She could swear it was Haley's voice she'd just heard. But she couldn't be sure.

_Sure? Of course it wasn't her. _

_Haley was dead._

She slowly took a deep breath, took a 360 to look around her surrounding, and picked up her phone. She stared at Nathan's number, biting her lip.

…

"Nathan, our session's almost over. You haven't said much. Are you thinking about her?"

He was. He was thinking about _Brooke_.

He remembered that night again, in blurry, dream-like flashes. He had walked up to her, and she had smiled. A sad, lonely smile. They had talked for a while, _really_ talked. He had sipped his beer, she had sipped her gin. They'd walked together back to his place, where they both stood outside the door.

"It was good to talk, after such a long time," she'd said, hugging him.

"Yeah," was all he said, hugging her tightly.

He didn't want to let go. He did though, and they both gazed at each other. And before he knew it, he was kissing her. It felt like peace, to touch her lips, to feel the heat of her body, so close to his. It almost hurt, kissing Brooke that time, but she kissed back, holding him close. The hurt drowned into the sadness and love they both had to give, and disappeared into each other.

"Nathan, time's up," the lady said, standing up and opening the door. "I hope we talk more the next time."

He was slowly shaken from his daydream sequence, and walked outside in a zombie-like fashion, telling her he would talk more the next time, for sure.

…

He stepped into the hotel, licking his lips. He ran his hand through his slightly long hair, which felt somewhat unfamiliar, yet still familiar. He walked towards the reception desk, and said quite plainly,"Banks." The man smiled, checking his computer.

_They were so close, he could feel them._

"Ah, Mr.Banks, room number 12/22." He reached into the back and handed _Mr. Banks_ a key. "Have a pleasant stay," he added.

The man took the key, and walked towards the elevators. He stepped inside one, and as it ascended, a wicked grin drew up his face.

_I want to taste you, love. And I will. Soon._

**Sorry if it was slow. It'll get better soon, promise. Please review. Thanks for reading.**


	4. Conversations With Dead People

**Hey everyone. Thanks to those who read, and those who reviewed -- JosselynR., naley19, SV, x.kaytee.x, BRUCAS EQUALS LOVE and SammyWinchesterGurl. The reviews really mean a lot. Here's another chapter...**

**Chapter 3... Conversations With Dead People**

"You ready yet?" Mouth asked, as Rachel finished the final touches to her look. She smacked her lips, and turned halfway around, checking out her ass in the mirror. She smiled seductively, and then turned to face Mouth, who was sitting on a chair next to the kitchen table counter in the hotel room. The room wasn't quite as crappy as they'd thought it would be. It had two single beds, a microwave, a fridge and a coffee maker. There was a window on the opposite side of the kitchen, which overlooked the roads and shops outside.

"I am now," Rachel said, sauntering towards Mouth. "How do I look?"

"Great," Mouth replied. And she did.

They were about to leave to go to a restaurant called _'Raro'_, a French and Italian place three blocks away. It was supposedly the best and only fine dining place in the whole town, and they thought it'd be just the right one for them to try out. They'd cut the cake there, and then head off to a newly built dance club opposite the restaurant. It seemed like the perfect plan and the perfect night.

"Should we call their room and ask if they're ready?" Rachel questioned, sitting herself down on a chair opposite to that of Mouth's.

"Nah, that's alright. I'll just walk across and ask them." He stood up, pushing the chair back, and grabbing his coat off the back of the chair. Rachel replied with an 'alright', and he walked outside and closed the door. The hallway was quite trite, with an orange and red symmetrical patterned carpet, and two fire extinguishers halfway. The wallpaper wasn't that special, a flowery design of yellow, white and pink. Just as Mouth passed room number 12/22, he heard a bump. He stopped midway, and looked at the door.

Another bump, this time harder.

_That's weird,_ he thought. He didn't remember anyone coming inside the room; Rachel and he would've heard them. He shrugged and started walking forward again, when suddenly, he heard a slow moan come from inside the room. It sounded like a man crying out in pain, and Mouth stopped again. He stared at the door, and everything was silent again. Surely Rachel must have heard the noise too.

Mouth didn't know why, but he started to walk closer to the door. He wanted to know where the noise came from, who the noise came from.

He pressed his ear sideways towards the door and listened.

Silence.

Then suddenly, the handle of the door started moving. Mouth quickly backed away, retracting from the door to the wall, startled. Suddenly, as the door almost opened and he faced the person who had yelled out, Bevin's door opened too and she stepped out, calling out excitedly, "Hey Mouth! We're ready!"

Mouth couldn't see anything - except for a long, red hand, just before the door to 12/22 shut again. Mouth looked between the room and Bevin, not understanding what had just happened. He didn't want to believe that he had just heard a moan, and then seen a bloody hand. He couldn't have. So he shut his mind to it, and turned to Bevin. He put up a fake smile, and exclaimed, "Finally. You guys take forever to get ready."

Bevin looked great, wearing a seawater-blue coloured dress that came up to a little above her knees. It spread around in different papery layers near the bottom, while the top clung perfectly along her thin figure.

"You look great, birthday girl," Mouth told her.

She stepped out, and so did Peyton, wearing a loose black strapless blouse that revealed her shoulders, and black jeans in the bottom. She looked great too, and Mouth felt lucky to be surrounded by them. He smiled, washing away any thoughts of horror.

"Aww thanks," Bevin said, hugging him. They called Rachel, and they all stepped into the elevator, heading down into the warm night.

**…**

"Nathan, I need to talk to you."

Brooke looked over her side at Nathan, who sleeping on his stomach, his shirt off, a blanket covering his legs. She'd told herself she would tell him about the whole Haley thing. But then she felt it was useless, a trivial matter, nothing important. And so she'd put it off. Put if off and still the words she'd meant to say kept ringing in her head. Maybe she would talk to him in the morning.

_Does he feel like he's cheating when he's with me? _

Brooke shrugged the thought, and closed her eyes. She rested her head on the pillow, sighing. They'd had sex around an hour ago, and he said he was tired afterwards, kissing her, and consequently falling asleep. She'd been lying there on the bed, waiting and wondering if she would fall asleep any time soon. But random thoughts kept whizzing in her brain. But now she _was _feeling tired, and just as she was falling asleep, she heard a voice.

"I'm real, you know?"

It was Haley. Again.

_Shut up brain, shut up. Let me sleep._

"How long can you pretend you're okay with this? You're clearly not. You don't even love him like I do. You just want to have him for an hour a day, and then you go away, leaving him a broken mess. You'll never take my place, Brooke."

Brooke didn't open her eyes. "You're not real, you're not real…" she whispered.

"You keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep at night."

Brooke opened her eyes. No one was there, no one in front of her, no one close by. She looked out the window; it was a full moon outside. She closed her eyes again.

She felt a chill by her right cheek, and then Haley continued. "You know what you are… a whore. And you're ruining my husband, just like you ruin all of them…"

Brooke opened her eyes and shouted, "He's not your husband anymore!"

She glanced sideways at Nathan, he hadn't woken up. He looked like a small child the way he was sleeping. She felt pangs of guilt in the pit of her stomach, and then mumbled, "The real Haley wouldn't do this… Please, just please, go away."

She felt tears forming in her eyes, and wiped them away before they fell down her cheeks. She put her head back on the pillow, turning her back to Nathan. She closed her eyes again, trying desperately to fall asleep.

**…**

"That was a great meal, you guys." Bevin beamed at her friends, happy that everything was going so well. The restaurant wasn't all that bad, it had a warm ambience, and sweet French music was playing in the back. The waiters were polite, and the food was delicious. And the best part was yet to come.

Cake.

_Life is good,_ Bevin thought, sighing inwardly.

And then, a waiter came, bringing with him a bottle of champagne and a two tier vanilla-marzipan covered chocolate cake. Peyton, Mouth and Rachel started singing 'Happy Birthday!' and Bevin glanced at her watch, it was exactly midnight.

She grinned excitedly, singing along, "Happy birthday to me…!"

Peyton had been singing, when her phone buzzed. Amidst the happy noise, she whipped out her cell phone and looked. A new message.

At this time?

_Must be for Bevin,_ she thought.

She clicked and opened it. It read,

**From: Private Number. **

_Having fun? See you soon, sister.  
_

_Love me like I love you,_

_WATCHMEWATCHYOU._

Peyton was stunned, her face started heating up. But before she could react, Rachel nudged her and said, "Hey, grab a glass slowpoke!"

She clutched the glass Rachel forced into her hand and the four of them clinked their champagne glasses together, as Bevin, Mouth and Rachel said, "Cheers!"

**Well, that's all for now. I hope you liked the chapter, and please let me know what you think. And don't worry, the gore will come soon. Anywho, thanks! **


	5. Sleep

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter.. **

**Chapter 4... Sleep**

Brooke was sitting quietly, alone, her hands joined together. She was looking outside the window, from inside Karen's Café, wondering what the heck had happened last night. She didn't believe Haley was haunting her, but she didn't believe she was slowly going insane, either. She tapped her foot on the ground, and sighed, closing her eyes for a second.

"Brooke, you alright?" Asked a familiar voice, in a considerate tone. It was Karen, with her hand on Brooke's left shoulder.

Brooke opened her eyes. She forced a smile, and muttered, "Yeah. Thanks for asking. I'm doing fine." She looked up at Karen, who kept gazing at Brooke.

"Brooke, I may not be a teenager anymore, or your best friend, but I can still tell when you're lying." She walked forward and sat in front of Brooke, patting her hand softly.

"What's wrong?"

Brooke took a quick peek at the rest of the café. Empty, for now, Karen had been cleaning up. Brooke didn't realize how long she'd been sitting there. But suddenly, she wanted to leave.

"It's… it's nothing Karen, really," Brooke replied, about to stand.

"Are you sure? I'm always here to help, you know." Karen smiled, reassuringly.

And Brooke stopped, looking at Karen. "Do you believe in… ghosts?"

**Fourteen Hours Ago.**

"Oh my god. Best. Birthday. Ever!" Bevin squeaked, jumping up and down, almost falling, as she hung onto Mouth. It was 2 AM, and they'd all just left the nightclub. The whole time Peyton had been worried, but kept up the happy charade, as had Mouth, who kept quiet about the bloody hand he'd seen. It was Bevin's twentieth; they didn't want to ruin her mood. And she was having such a great time.

All of them were walking down the town streets, a disorderly file, Rachel equally sloshed, only Peyton and Mouth close to sober.

"You know… you know what would be fuckin' awesome right now?" Rachel questioned the others, nudging Peyton. "A Snickers. I need a Snickers bar, damn you!"

And then she burst into a fit of giggles, and Bevin joined in, Mouth and Peyton laughing awkwardly. Minutes passed in drunken noise and loud unfunny jokes, as they reached the hotel, and went up the elevator.

"Aww, we're already here…" Bevin pouted, leaning against her room's closed door.

Mouth gave Peyton a meaningful 'take care of her' look, and helped Rachel into the room. She was almost falling on him, and as he was about to close the door, shouted, "What? You can't take me! Never!"

He couldn't help but think she was completely out of it. And to make things worse, she pushed her way through the door past Mouth, and screamed, "Viva La Revolution!"

Mouth stepped outside and caught her by the stomach, dragging her in, just as Rachel looked down the hall and shouted, "Oye! You there, hoodie boy! Save me! Save me!"

He stared down the hall at the man Rachel was supposedly calling out too, and indeed, there was a man walking ahead. The man was tall, wearing faded blue jeans, and above, a black hood. Mouth kept quiet, and just as he was about to pull Rachel inside the room, the man looked back, straight at them.

Mouth stopped, dead in his tracks, and the man looked back ahead, walking into the elevator. He hadn't seen the man's face properly, all he saw were the man's lips, and they were smiling.

Meanwhile, in 12/21, Peyton was trying to convince Bevin to go to sleep.

"Come on, aren't you tired?" Peyton asked, cooing Bevin into sleeping. She herself was tired, and needed a good night's rest.

"Me? Tired? Never!" Bevin replied, standing on her bed and jumping up and down. _Too much Vodka really brought out the worst in her,_ Peyton thought.

And then, she bumped her head on the ceiling, cursed, and fell atop the bed, yelping and laughing. Peyton couldn't help but grin at Bevin's antics, and she too started laughing.

And soon, Bevin was out.

**…**

_Knock knock. _

Bevin's eyes opened, wearily. The lights were off. The knocking sound had been coming for a long time now, Bevin could tell. She sat up, looking sideways, and behind her. The curtains on the window were drawn, and she could see the moonlight filter inside. She glanced at Peyton sleeping peacefully, undisturbed by the knocks.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

There it was again. Bevin put her feet onto the floor, yawning. Her head didn't hurt, which was strange, since she remembered getting hammered last night. She walked slowly and droopily to the door, her tiny feet making cloth-like sounds. She was wearing a huge pink tee shirt, and just underwear. She stopped as she reminisced, the day Skills had given her the tee-shirt as a present. It'd been her favourite ever since, the most comfortable.

_Knock._

The final sharp knock propelled her to turn the handle and open the door, and once she did, she stood silent. It was Torrence. _Ian's friend._ His long black hair, his muscular build, she remembered him perfectly – the man who'd killed Skills. The man she'd battered with the baseball bat, leaving him for dead in the cabin. The same man who was now smiling at Bevin, beaming at Bevin.

"Hello, love," he said to her, revealing a tall knife in his right hand, from behind his back.

She stepped back, not believing this was happening. Not now, not here.

"You're… you're dead," she stuttered, frightened.

He cackled wickedly. "What's the matter? Don't you believe in ghosts?"

"Peyton!" Bevin screamed -- her voice cracking as she looked back. Her senses surged with adrenaline and fear. But before she could run, she felt the cold knife on her neck, slitting it deep. Her throat felt choked, the blood seeped onto her pink shirt.

_The shirt Skills had given her. _

She could feel the pain; she could feel the knife, as he made holes in her favourite tee-shirt. Again, and again.

**Well, that's all for now. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!**


	6. Hook & Line

**Hey everyone. I want to apologize for not updating for so long. I'd just been caught up pretty badly with schoolwork and everything else. But I'm gonna try and make sure I update weekly from now on. Thanks again for all the reviews. Here's another chapter...**

**Chapter 5... Hook & Line**

"Bevin! Bevin! Wake up!"

The voices became clearer around her. Louder, like stings. They hurt, and they wouldn't go away. She groaned and put the pillow over her head, feeling the cool underside on her face.

"Come on Bev!"

And then, the thoughts flooded back into her head. Everything, in one go.

The birthday party. The cake. The drinks. _Oh, the drinks._

And then he came at night. _Ian._ He came, and he stabbed her.

Her eyes shot open, despite her body telling her to keep them tightly shut. She turned around, the pillow falling in a muted thud onto the floor. The people and objects in front of her became clearer; the light from the window flooded her. She put one hand up in front of her eyes, trying to make it go away.

"What… what happened?" She asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. Not like the usual Bevin.

The voice was Rachel's. She was standing at the side of the bed, aspirin in one hand and a glass in another. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor, and it made an irritating rhythm. She was waiting for Bevin to sit up, and Bevin, completely unaware of this, continued to lie down, resembling a crumpled heap.

"Well, won't you get up?" Rachel asked, walking to the foot of the bed and sitting down, tired of waiting.

"Ohh… yeah," Bevin said, rising up slowly, cautiously. She held her head in her hands, blinking. It throbbed like someone had hit her straight with a hammer, and she'd do anything to make it go away. She reached with one hand for the aspirin, and put it in her mouth, then took the water, one hand again keeping away the sunlight.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, wondering. She still couldn't believe last night was a dream. Everything had seemed so very real. _Too real._ She looked at the places where Ian had stabbed her, and all that stared back was plain old Bevin. No scars, no blood, no wounds. She wondered why Rachel wasn't having a hangover. And so she asked.

"Not my first time," Rachel replied, plainly, with a wry grin.

"What are we doing today?" Bevin asked, feeling slightly better knowing she'd be having a shower soon. A cool shower sounded great at that point.

Rachel sighed, thinking. She suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah. Mouth and Peyton have gone to get a few things we need… diet Coke, water, chips, chocolate, you know? And then we all thought we'd check out the old High School here. I wasn't there the last time, and they both said it was really great. Should be fun, yeah? Cause I think I'm not exactly ready to start partying again." She meant to say it convincingly, but Bevin could tell Rachel was mostly _always_ ready to party.

"Me neither," Bevin said. She stood up to head to the bathroom, just as she heard a quick knock on the door. She quickly staggered back, remembering last night. The door burst open and Peyton and Mouth rushed inside, looking extremely tense. Rachel hadn't noticed Bevin's little freak-out.

_Thank god,_ Bevin thought. She didn't want to make Rachel think one night of drinking had totally fucked her up.

"What happened? You guys look like you saw a ghost," Rachel commented, walking over to them. She examined their empty hands and a scowled. "What? No chips?!"

Mouth looked at her incredulously. "Haven't you been outside? Or seen the local news?"

Rachel looked at him dumbly, and Bevin obviously hadn't, so he continued. "A girl was found, _dead, _completely cut up and hanging by ropes right across the street from here."

Bevin's eyes widened, just as Rachel mouth almost hung open.

"Right here?" She quickly ran to the window and peeked out, expecting to find a full fledged murder victim hanging from a store window. All she saw were two police cars, around a dozen townspeople, and red smudges smeared vertically near the department stores huge dust laden windows. No traces, except the blood.

"The owner found her in the morning," Peyton explained, as Rachel turned and looked back. Bevin remained silent. "She was just nineteen. They said she'd been hanging there for a while. Her intestines were hanging from her stomach towards the floor; it was pretty fucked up."

They all stared at each other. Mouth thought of the bloody hand he'd seen, and the man who'd smiled at them last night. Peyton thought of the ominous messages she'd been receiving. Bevin thought of her gruesome dream, and Rachel thought how odd it was that no one heard anyone screaming last night. They all wondered whether they should tell each other what they were thinking. But in the end, they decided to not say a word.

**…**

"Hey Brooke, we still on for tomorrow night at Tric?" Nathan asked, over the phone.

Brooke wanted to say no. "Yeah, most definitely. See you at 8, alright?" She tried to sound cheerful, but wondered if he knew she was faking.

"Alright. Love you," he replied, completely unaware.

"Yeah, you too," she replied, lifelessly, hanging up.

**…**

Instead of letting the murder ruin everything for them, they decided to go ahead and visit the high school. Bevin had finally started feeling better, and by the afternoon, she was perky again. Still, the thought of death loomed over their heads. They ate lunch at a local diner, not talking much too much. The mood seemed to have been ruined for the trip, and everyone knew it.

"I think I'm going to head back," Rachel finally said, finishing off her cheese and mushroom omelette.

"What? So soon? We still haven't seen some shops…" Bevin urged, trying to sound reassuring. But truth was, they didn't feel like shopping, at all.

"Nah, I'm alright. I'm pretty worn out, anyway. I think I'm going to go ahead to the room and take a little nap." She stood up from the booth, and started moving away, when Bevin yelled out 'wait!' and followed her.

"What about those two?" Rachel asked, glancing backwards at Mouth and Peyton, who were talking to each other in far away tones.

"They're just gonna pay the bill, and then fetch some things from the department store. They weren't able to get anything in the morning…" Bevin trailed off, trying to avoid the topic.

Once at the hotel, Bevin stayed at the reception, telling Rach how she'd somehow lost her room key the night before. Rachel took the elevator to the room. As she reached up, she walked in brisk steps to the room, her heels making cushioned thuds on the carpet. Once at the door, she pushed in the key, and sighed.

The first thing she did was shriek in shock.

The man was sitting on a chair, placed in the middle of her room. He looked bored, and stood up, sighing, as though relieved to see her. Rachel's eyes flashed to the door adjoining room 12/22 and 12/23. He'd placed a chair near the doorknob, to make sure no one could break in from the other side. On the bedside table she noted a pair of keys, no doubt Bevin's. What frightened her the most, however, was how much the man looked like Ian. _Psycho Derek._ That sick bastard who'd killed her friends last year. The man she'd stabbed to death. It was him, only_ not _him.

"Hello there," he said, his broken English accent coming off in a mixture of anger and lust. "I don't believe we've met."

It wasn't Derek. No way.

She was standing at the door, frozen in fear, her back stuck to it, as he stalked towards her. He was wearing a long navy blue coat that touched his knees, and a black shirt underneath. He reached into his coat and pulled out a long knife, and grinned. And then Rachel screamed.

**Sorry that chapter didn't have much of Brathan. There'll be more of those two in the next chapter, I promise. Thanks for reading. Hope you liked the chapter, and please let me know what you think.**


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